Clje  Centenary  l^ome  IBoarO  ISoofelet  JBumter  ©ne 


Three  Outposts  of  Liberty 

Porto  Rico  Hawaii  Alaska 


Some  of  the  United  States  troops  stationed  at  our  new  frontier.  They  are  increas- 
ing in  number  all  the  time  and  bring  with  them  the  usual  camp  problems.  Unless 
Christian  ideals  go  with  them,  soldiers  are  apt  to  prove  a menace  to  the  islanders 


PLANTING  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

T T OW  shall  we  classify  Porto  Rico,  Hawaii  and  Alaska? 

^ The  General  Conference  has  authorized  their  classification  as 
frontiers  so  far  as  the  work  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  is  concerned.  The  name  has  no  descriptive  value.  Fron- 
tiers, then,  they  are,  far  flung  though  they  be. 

They  are  all  isolated.  Slender  cables  under  the  seas  are  not 
suflacient  to  carry  the  thousand  daily  currents  of  thought  which  bind 
the  forty-eight  states  together  and  give  them  the  unity  of  a great 
nation.  The  necessities  of  mere  distance  compel  the  peoples  who 
would  be  Americans  in  these  almost  foreign  lands,  to  create  for  them- 
selves miniature  American  republics  which  can  be  in  large  measure 
self-sustaining  and  self -propagating. 

Again,  these  territories  lack  the  rich  American  tradition,  except  as 
those  traditions  be  lifted  up  bodily  from  the  soil  in  which  they  have 


Cftree  !i)utpo0t0  of  Liftertp 


grown  and  planted  in  lands  where  once  grew  institutions  quite  at 
variance  with  those  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a much  more  difl&cult 
problem  to  be  a true  American  on  one  of  these  far  removed  frontiers 
than  in  Kansas,  New  York  or  Ohio. 

In  the  third  place,  Porto  Rico,  Hawaii  and  Alaska  have  the  com- 
mon characteristic  of  newness.  Their  future  relation  to  the  United 
States,  whether  they  are  to  be  assets  or  liabilities,  is  largely  yet  to  be 
determined.  No  one  doubts  their  wealth,  their  loyalty,  or  their  mili- 
tary value,  if  such  a point  is  to  be  important  fifty  years  from  now, 
but  what  they  actually  will  be  lies  folded  in  policies  which  have  only 
recently  been  initiated  or  are  as  yet  unframed . 

These  common  characteristics,  isolation,  lack  of  substantial  tradi- 
tion, and  newness,  make  their  social  and  spiritual  destinies  matters  of 
grave  concern.  Protestant  Christianity  expressed  in  the  organized 
and  efficient!}^  administered  church,  must  strike  down  its  roots  in 
every  city  and  village. 

Everything  has  to  be  built  anew  from  the  ground  up.  There  is 
great  danger  that  in  the  hurry  and  rush  for  wealth  and  organization, 
the  moral  and  religious  concerns  of  the  respective  communities  may  be 
neglected,  or  may  be  crowded  out  for  lack  of  adequate  financial  sup- 
port. 

Wdien  the  Centenary  Program  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  Church  Extension  included  these  territories  in  its  survey,  it 
undertook  a national  and  patriotic  service  of  the  highest  value. 
We  must  not  forget  or  neglect  our  own,  even  in  the  days  when  our 
attention  is  drawn  so  intensively  to  the  battle  fields  of  Europe.  The 
United  States  must  prove  equal  to  caring  for  even  the  remotest  of  her 
own  peoples  if  she  is  to  command  and  hold  the  respect  of  the  other 
nations  in  her  role  of  world  leadership. 

The  needs  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  are  transcendant,  inclusive  and 
always  immanent.  As  we  meet  them  effectively, 
we  serve  our  country  best. 


3 


Porto  Rico  of  the  Present 


Something  Old  and  Something  New 


^VERY  motorist  in  our  United 
States’is  familiar  with  the  warning 
sign — “Go  slow.  School  crossing.” 
But  to  be  confronted  with  the  same 
warning  far  out  in  a country  district 
of  Porto  Rico  is  somewhat  of  a shock 
to  the  tourist  who  thinks  he  is  “see- 
ing” a foreign  land.  “Precaucion, 
Escuela  Publica,”  runs  the  Spanish 
version.  There  is  nothing  preten- 
tious or  startling  about  the  small 
wooden  sign  by  the  side  of  the  road; 
yet  it  signifies  very  clearly  the  great 
changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
Porto  Rico  since  that  island  passed 
from  the  control  of  Spain  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States,  in  1898. 

It  means  that  frequent  automobiles 
are  speeding  over  the  wonderful  roads 
which  are  the  Spaniards’  best  legacy 
to  Porto  Rico;  that  children  who, 
under  the  Spanish  rule,  were  allowed 
to  grow  up  in  ignorance,  are  now 
being  gathered  into  public  schools; 
that  these  island  people,  once  sub- 
jected to  the  absolute  despotism  of  a 
foreign  race,  are  now  governing  them- 
selves and  making  their  own  laws  for 
the  good  of  the  commonwealth. 

Every  village  has  its  schoolhouse, 
with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying  above 
it.  Since  the  civil  government  was 
established  in  1900,  illiteracy  has 
been  reduced  from  80%  to  60%. 
But  there  is  something  besides  “book 
lamin’  ” that  the  dark  skinned,  curly 
headed  youngsters  find  in  the  little 
schoolhouse.  That  is  a realization  of 
the  dignity  of  labor . They  are  taught 
to  work  with  their  hands, — an  occupa- 
tion long  regarded  with  scorn.  Any 


traveler  who  has  seen  his  suit-case 
pass  through  six  different  pairs  of 
hands  in  its  journey  from  the  steamer 
to  the  street,  knows  how  the  Porto 
Rican  hates  to  lower  himself  by 
physical  labor.  If  the  island  is  to 
develop  into  a truly  democratic, 
vigorous,  self-supporting  portion  of 
our  nation,  manual  training  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  education  of  her 
children. 

A Story  of  Change 

Down  in  the  valley  where  acre  upon 
acre  of  land  is  rich  with  sugar-cane, 
the  steam  cable  plow  with  an  eighty 
horse-power  engine  is  taking  the  place 
of  the  primitive  Porto  Rican  plow 
fashioned  of  two  beams  of  wood  and 
dragged  by  oxen.  The  ripened  crop, 
once  carried  on  slow,  creaking  ox-carts 
to  a quaint  little  cane-crushing  mill 
run  by  ox-power,  is  now,  in  many 
cases,  delivered  to  big  refineries  called 
centrals,  by  means  of  queer  little  rail- 
roads. There  are  said  to  be  ten 
thousand  miles  of  these  diminutive 
tracks  in  Porto  Rico.  Inside  the 
central,  the  plodding  oxen  of  the  old 
mill  are  replaced  by  an  eighty  horse- 
power grinding  machine.  Before  the 
United  States  appeared  on  the  scene, 
Porto  Rico  was  producing  68,000  tons 
of  sugar  a year;  in  1917,  the  total  pro- 
duction was  488,000  tons. 

Roads  built  many,  many  years  ago 
by  Spanish  engineers  are  now  re- 
paired by  means  of  the  modern  steam 
roller,  and  down  in  the  shipping  re- 
gions of  city  water  fronts,  big  motor 


3 


Cijree  SDutpost0  of  ILifiertp 


In  many  parts  of  the  island  the  big  modern  central  is  taking  the  place  of  the  ox- 
power  mill.  This  one  at  Guanica  is  the  second  largest  in  the  world 


trucks  vie  with  the  ancient  mule  team 
in  transporting  cargoes. 

Streets  that  once  were  full  of  filth 
and  reeking  with  disease  are  now 
clean  and  sanitary.  Epidemics  are 
rare,  and  when  one  does  occur  the 
stricken  are  well  cared  for  in  modern 
hospitals. 

The  American  Trade-Mark 

All  these  changes  indicate  the  im- 
pact of  American  ideas  upon  Porto 
Rican  education,  citizenship,  business, 
hygiene  and  sanitation.  But  our 
responsibility  does  not  end  here. 
In  America  it  has  been  very  largely 
the  free  church  which  has  made 
possible  the  free  democracy.  In 
order  that  the  Porto  Ricans  may 
develop  into  the  best  possible  United 
States  citizens,  they  need  the  influ- 
ence of  such  a church. 

For  four  hundred  years  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  held  unquestioned 
dominion  over  the  island.  No  doubt 
she  has  had  her  place  in  the  life 
of  the  people  — ■ touching  them  at 
least  at  birth,  marriage  and  death. 
No  doubt  there  are  good  things 
in  the  list  of  her  accomplishments. 


But  that  she  does  not  adequately 
meet  the  needs  of  the  present  pop- 
ulation is  plainly  to  be  seen.  Dr. 
W.  L.  McDowell,  who  recently  made 
a survey  of  the  Porto  Rican  field, 
says  that  he  drove  twenty-five  miles 
out  into  the  country  districts,  without 
seeing  a single  Roman  Catholic  church 
or  chapel.  They  build  only  in  the 
great  centers.  As  eighty-eight  per 
cent  of  the  Porto  Ricans  live  in  rural 
communities,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  this 
church  does  not  begin  to  touch  the 
population  vitally. 

Realizing  this , the  Methodist  Church 
has  made  a great  effort  to  reach  the 
whole  body  of  the  people.  So  far 
they  have  established  forty-seven 
churches  and  chapels.  Poor  little 
shacks  some  of  them  are,  built,  like 
the  native  huts,  of  the  bark  of 
the  royal  palm  and  thatched  with 
grass  or  palm  leaves.  Yet  within 
their  flimsy  walls  the  people  of  the 
countryside  are  finding  a firm  founda- 
tion on  which  to  build  their  faith. 

One  can  fairly  feel  the  weariness  in 
the  letter  written  to  the  Centenary 
Committee  by  a Porto  Rican  preacher. 
“The  house  of  the  pastor  is  about 
one-half  league  from  the  church 


4 


potto  Bico  of  ti)e  prcoent 


Even  in  the  most  remote  country  districts,  the  Porto  Ricans  are  finding  a free 
church.  This  is  the  type  of  building  which  the  Centenary  aims  to  replace  by 
substantial  concrete  chapels 


building,”  he  says.  “I  think  this 
condition  must  not  continue  for- 
ever.” Courage,  and  faith  in  the 
power  to  conquer  circumstance  are 
dominant  notes  in  a letter  from  an- 
other preacher  in  a tiny  village. 

“Here  there  is  some  many  stones  and 
the  river  very  near,  and  u'e  can  do  a fine 
church  of  concrete.  ^ 

That  man  has  the  right  idea. 
Concrete  chapels  are  among  the 
Centenary  askings  for  Porto  Rico, 
because  no  wooden  building  can  long 
withstand  the  attaeks  of  hurricanes, 
the  ravages  of  a tropical  climate, 
and  of  the  various  wood-eating  in- 
seets  that  go  with  it.  From  another 
village  comes  a plea  for  a chureh 
bell,  because  “many  of  our  people 
have  no  clocks.” 

Those  native  preachers  are  strug- 
gling under  a serious  handicap — lack 
of  education.  Most  of  them  eome 
from  the  peasant  class.  Their  educa- 
tion, if  any,  has  been  that  of  the 


graded  school.  Meantime,  many  of 
the  ehildren  of  the  present  generation 
are  forging  ahead  through  the  graded 
school,  on  into  high  school,  and  some- 
times even  to  the  university.  Method- 
ism, to  meet  the  needs  of  the  coming 
generation,  must  have  a well  educated 
ministry . 

Higher  education  for  the  leaders 
of  the  Church  is  one  of  the  aims 
of  the  Centenary  for  Porto  Rico. 
Other  plans  are  the  building  of  more 
churches  and  chapels  in  country  dis- 
tricts; the  appointment  of  more  native 
church  workers;  special  attention  to 
citizenship  training  in  both  schools 
and  churches;  and  cooperation  with 
other  denominations  in  non-sectarian 
educational  work.  To  support  these 
projects,  the  Centenary  Committee  is 
asking  for  $213,880. 

If  this  program  is  carried  out,  that 
Porto  Rico  which  is  now  partly  old 
and  partly  new,  will  become  wholly 
new  in  spirit  and  ideals. 


Cfttcc  2Dutpo0t0  of  Libertp 


This  is  the  old,  slow  process  by  which  the  Porto  Ricans  used  to  crush  all  their 

sugar  cane 


Points  on  Porto  Rico 


OPULATION  has  reached  nearly 
a million  and  a half. 

Sixty  per  cent  are  illiterate.  Before 
the  United  States  came  in,  eighty- 
eight  per  cent. 

Eighty  per  cent  of  the  people  live  in 
rural  communities. 

There  is  very  real  patriotism  in  Porto 
Rico.  Even  the  poorest  people 
carefully  follow  food  conservation 
rules.  There  are  many  Red  Cross 
centers  where  women  and  little 
girls  roll  bandages  and  prepare 
comfort  kits  for  shipment  to  France. 

Porto  Rico,  fertile  land  though  it  is, 
imports  most  of  its  vegetables  from 
New  York,  simply  because  the 
people  have  not  learned  to  raise 


them.  Gardening  is  now  being 
taught  in  public  schools. 

Since  the  civil  government  was  estab- 
lished in  1900,  fourteen  million 
dollars  have  been  spent  for  educa- 
tional purposes.  There  are  now 
1,180  public  schools;  1,972  teachers; 
and  161,785  pupils  enrolled. 

The  Porto  Ricans  make  excellent  stu- 
dents. Col.  J.  H.  Townsend, 
U.S.A.,  says  of  the  four  hundred 
young  men  who  recently  completed 
the  officers’  training  course,  “It  is 
my  unbiased  opinion  that  they  will 
stand  up  with  any  officers  in  the 
army.” 

Every  student  in  the  University  of 
Porto  Rico  is  now  receiving  mili- 
tary training. 


H awaii — Our  New  Frontier 

Once  Seen,  Never  Forgotten 


“"^0  other  land  could  so  longingly 
-*■  ^ and  beseechingly  haunt  me , sleep- 
ing and  waking,  through  half  a life- 
time, as  that  one  has  done.  . . .For 
me  its  balmy  airs  are  always  blowing, 
its  summer  seas  flashing  in  the  sun; 
the  pulsing  of  its  surf  beat  is  in  my 
ear;  I can  see  its  garlanded  crags,  its 
leaping  cascades,  its  plumy  palms 
drowsing  by  the  shore;  its  remote  sum- 
mits floating  like  islands  above  the 
cloudracks;  I can  feel  the  spirit  of  its 
woodland  solitude;  I can  hear  the 
splash  of  its  brooks;  in  my  nostrils 
still  lives  the  breath  of  flowers  that 
perished  twenty  years  ago.” 

That  is  the  way  Mark  Twain  felt 
about  the  Hawaiian  islands.  Like 
enchanted  figures  in  a fairy  tale,  the 
mountain  peaks  of  the  eight  islands 
rise  from  the  brilliant  sea.  The  coral 
reefs  are  just  as  snowy  white,  and  the 
surf  as  thunderous  and  dazzling  as  on 
that  fatal  day  some  hundred  years 
ago,  when  Captain  Cook,  the  famous 
English  explorer,  effected  a landing 
on  Hawaii  and  met  death  at  the 
hands  of  the  natives. 

But  since  that  day,  what  changes 
have  taken  place  in  the  life  of  the 
human  beings  who  dwell  in  the  shadow 
of  the  beautiful  mountains!  Canni- 
bals are  but  dream  figures  of  a by- 
gone day.  The  string  of  beads  and 
the  wisp  of  grass  have  been  exchanged 
for  western  clothing.  Merchants, 
mechanics,  planters,  tradesmen,  law- 
yers, physicians,  judges  and  artisans 
of  foreign  lands  all  have  a hand  in  the 
complex  civilization  which  has  taken 
the  place  of  the  old  simple  life  of 
fishing,  warring,  loving  and  dying. 

What  has  brought  about  the  change? 
The  Rev.  A.  0.  Forbes,  in  1863,  said: 


“It  is  the  wondrous  influences  ac- 
companying the  story  of  the  cross 
which  have  here  dispelled  the  dark- 
ness of  heathenism  and  transformed 
a pagan  nation  into  a Christian  com- 
munity. The  Lord  of  the  vineyard 
planted  a goodly  vine  in  these  isles  of 
the  sea.”  Chief  Justice  A.  F.  Judd, 
in  the  year  1860,  said  that  Hawaii 
furnished  to  the  world  the  most  com- 
plete illustration  of  successful  mis- 
sionary enterprise. 

A Good  Investment 

Annexed,  on  their  own  request,  by 
the  United  States  in  1898,  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  are  now  the  out- 
post of  our  western  civilization  and 
the  frontier  of  our  Pacific  coast  de- 
fense. They  have  become  the  coaling 
station  for  steamships  plying  between 
North  and  South  America  on  one  side 
of  the  Pacific  and  all  points  in  Asia 
and  Australia  on  the  other  side.  They 
lie  in  the  direct  line  between  Panama 
and  Japan,  Vancouver  and  Sidney, 
San  Francisco  and  Hongkong.  Sena- 
tor Miles  Poindexter  of  Washington 
recently  said:  “There  is  no  spot  under 
our  flag  today  of  such  strategic  im- 
portance to  our  government  as  Hawaii. 
It  will  be  the  center  of  great  military 
and  naval  development  in  the  near 
future.” 

Surely  then  it  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  the  population  of  the 
islands  should  be  truly  American  in 
its  ideals  and  practices.  The  ele- 
ments of  that  population  are  drawn 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth — from 
Japan,  China,  Porto  Rico,  Korea,  the 
Philippines,  America  and  various 
countries  of  Europe.  Of  the  217,660 


7 


Cftrce  2E)utpo0t0  of  Libertp 


Hawaii  would  make  an  excellent  home  for  all  who  want  something  for  nothing. 
Palm  trees  drop  cocoanuts  faster  than  you  can  eat  them.  The  fertile  soil  produces 
sugar  cane  and  pineapples  as  if  by  magic.  But  he  who  toileth  not  shall  vanish, 
and  the  native  Hawaiians  who  do  not  know  how  to  work  are  rapidly  losing 
ground  to  the  more  industrious  invaders  from  the  Orient 


inhabitants,  only  26,941  belong  to  the 
original  Hawaiian  race.  How  to 
Americanize  the  Hawaiian-born  Asia- 
tics is  the  chief  problem  which  here 
confronts  the  United  States  govern- 
ment and  the  Methodist  Church. 

The  rapidly  developing  educational 
system  is  doing  good  work  for  this 
cause.  Last  year  the  school  enrol- 
ment increased  seven  per  cent.  There 
are  now  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
public  schools.  Dr.  W.  H.  Fry, 
Superintendent  of  the  Hawaiian  Mis- 
sion, says  it  is  an  impressive  sight  to 
see  the  Oriental  children  in  these 
schools  line  up  and  salute  our  flag. 

The  English  language  also  helps  to 
mould  many  nationalities  into  one. 
While  Hawaiian,  Japanese,  Punti 
Chinese,  Hakka  Chinese,  Portuguese, 
Korean,  Filipino  and  Porto  Rican  are 
spoken  in  the  islands,  English  is  the 
conquering  tongue.  It  is  taught  in 
all  the  schools  and  is  the  medium  of 
communication  among  all  the  chil- 


dren and  young  people,  both  in  the 
street  and  on  the  playground. 

Mid-Pacific  Methodism 

The  Church  must  not  do  less  than 
the  school  in  the  work  of  Americaniza- 
tion. It  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  all  church  services  should  be  con- 
ducted in  English.  The  work  of  the 
Methodist  Church  reaches,  for  the 
most  part,  the  Japanese,  Koreans  and 
Filipinos.  Many  of  our  native  pastors 
at  present  speak  only  their  own 
tongue.  One  of  the  purposes  of  the 
Centenary  is  to  appoint  more  native 
pastors,  but  to  have  them  first 
trained  in  America  and  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  English  language. 

In  no  country  in  the  world  is  the 
Sunday  school  of  greater  importance 
than  in  Hawaii.  On  these  islands 
children  are  as  plentiful  as  weeds  in  a 
New  England  pasture.  Among  the 
Japanese  especially  the  birth  rate  is 


l^atoaii— ©ur  j]3eto  jTrontier 


A few  of  Hawaii’s  hordes  of  Japanese,  preparing  the  ground  for  the  planting 
of  sugar  eane.  Most  of  the  oriental  population  of  the  islands  is  employed  on  sugar 
and  pineapple  plantations 


extremely  high.  At  present  our 
Sunday  schools  are  not  large  enough 
to  care  for  the  little  people  of  Japanese 
parentage  who  are  open  to  Christian 
influence.  But  if  we  neglect  them, 
the  Buddhists  do  not.  They  have  re- 
cently built  a temple  costing  $100,000 
and  have  established  twenty-five 
schools  which  the  Japanese  children 
are  compelled  to  attend  for  two 
hours  each  day.  It  is  an  open  ques- 
tion whether  Hawaii  will  be  won  for 
Buddha  or  for  Christ.  The  Cente- 
nary is  planning  greatly  to  increase  our 
Sunday  school  facilities,  in  order  to 
keep  pace  with  the  ever  increasing 
Oriental  birth  rate. 

At  present  the  Methodist  work  is 
scattered  over  the  islands  of  Oahu, 
Hawaii,  Maui  and  Kauai.  There  are 
twenty-two  Methodist  churches  with 
1,711  full  members,  267  probationers, 


1,916  Sunday  school  scholars  and  423 
Epworth  Leaguers. 

Besides  caring  for  240  Japanese  and 
169  Korean  students  in  special  schools, 
Methodism  maintains  an  interest  in 
one  of  the  most  important  educa- 
tional enterprises  in  the  islands.  This 
is  the  Mid-Pacific  Institute  at  Hono- 
lulu, a successful  training  school  for 
Christian  workers.  It  has  a plant 
valued  at  $1,000,000,  a teaching 
force  of  26  and  a student  body  of  321 . 
Its  annual  output  of  trained  workers 
is  an  important  leavening  influence  in 
the  life  of  the  islands. 

For  the  continuance  and  enlarge- 
ment of  the  work  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Hawaii,  the 
Centenary  is  asking  for  $641,425. 

You  have  an  opportunity  to  render 
a patriotic  service  by  helping  to 
Christianize  our  new  frontier. 


9 


Cijree  €>utpo0t0  of  ili&ertp 


A sample  lot  of  the  new  race  in  Hawaii.  Japanese,  Chinese,  Hawaiian  and 
Filipino  strains  are  mixed  in  varying  proportions  in  these  small  boys  of  the  Method- 
ist Mission  School  in  Honolulu 


Points  on  the  Hawaiian  Islands 


'T'HERE  are  8 inhabited,  and  several 
^ uninhabited  islands. 


Total  population  in  1910  was  191,909. 
Total  area  of  inhabited  islands  is  6,651 
sq.  miles.  The  largest,  Hawaii,  is 
4,210  sq.  miles.  Kahoolawe  is  only 
69. 


The  largest  volcano  in  the  world  is 
on  Hawaii. 


The  climate  is  healthy,  and  cooler 
than  that  of  other  regions  in  the 
same  latitude. 

The  average  yield  per  acre  of  cane- 
sugar  is  the  greatest  in  the  world. 

At  the  Cross  Roads  of  the  North 
Pacific,  the  islands  have  a mon- 
opoly of  coaling,  watering  and  vic- 
tualling. 

Most  of  the  people  are  of  moderate 
stature,  but  the  chiefs  and  the 


women  of  their  families  have  been 
remarkable  for  their  height,  and 
400  lbs.  was  not  an  unusual  weight 
for  one  of  this  class.  The  people 
are  considered  physically  amongst 
the  finest  races  in  the  Pacific.  They 
are  hardy  and  industrious,  light 
hearted  and  pleasure  loving.  ’ 

The  language  was  not  reduced  to^a 
written  form  until  the  arrival  of 
missionaries. 

Captain  Cook  discovered  the  islands 
in  1778. 

The  year  1919  will  mark  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  arrival  of 
the  first  Methodist  missionary. 

At  the  present  time  there  are  nearly 
as  many  Japanese  Buddist  schools 
as  there  are  public  schools  of  gram- 
mar grade. 


10 


Alaska — the  Prize  Package 


She  May  Help  Us  Win  the  War 


have  heard  of  a woman  who 
’ ^ paid  a quarter  for  a pocketbook 
at  a rummage  sale  and  when  she  got 
home  found  a hundred  dollar  bill 
sewed  into  the  lining.  That  is  just 
the  kind  of  luck  the  United  States 
government  had  when  it  purchased 
Alaska  in  1867.  At  that  time  the 
average  person  thought  of  that  part 
of  North  America  as  a great  wilder- 
ness of  ice  and  snow.  Secretary  of 
State  Seward,  who  made  the  purchase 
for  seven  million  odd  dollars,  was 
treated  with  the  greatest  derision  and 
scorn,  and  our  new  acquisition  was 
dubbed  “Seward’s  Folly.” 

But  Alaska  proved  to  have  a whole 
lot  of  things  sewed  up  inside  her 
boundaries.  Once  the  white  men 
began  ripping  the  stitches,  they  found 
an  amazing  wealth  of  gold,  copper, 
coal  and  tin;  millions  of  acres  of  land 
waiting  to  be  cultivated;  and  waters 
teeming  with  salmon.  In  these  days 
of  coal  shortage  and  reduced  food 
supply  we  have  good  reason  to  be 
thankful  for  “Seward’s  Folly.”  Since 
the  year  of  her  purchase  Alaska’s 
mineral  production  alone  has  amount- 
ed to  nearly  forty  times  her  purchase 
price.  Her  sixty -four  million  acres  of 
arable  land,  it  is  estimated,  ought 
to  support  a rural  population  of  ten 
million. 

With  up-to-date  farming  methods 
and  machinery,  certain  portions  of 
Alaska  could  easily  be  converted  into 
one  huge  war  garden.  Vegetables  of 
all  kinds  flourish  in  her  fertile  soil. 
One  man  recently  raised  seventeen 
tons  of  potatoes  per  acre.  At  Fair- 
banks nine  hundred  tons  of  potatoes 
were  produced  during  the  summer  of 
1915.  And  if  the  price  of  beefsteak 


soars  too  high,  we  have  only  to  send 
up  to  “Seward’s  Folly”  for  a consign- 
ment of  reindeer  steak.  There  are  now 
seven  hundred  thousand  of  these  deer 
in  Alaska,  and  the  raising  of  them 
bids  fair  to  be  a big  factor  in  solving 
the  meat  question  for  the  United 
States. 

“Great  Country”  the  name  Alaska 
means,  and  very  fitting  it  is.  Her 
boundaries  enclose  an  area  of  586,400 
square  miles.  In  this  vast  stretch 
of  country,  railroads  are  few  and  far 
between.  One  has  been  built  from 
Cordova  north  to  Copper  Center  and 
then  to  Kinnecott,  a distance  of  two 
hundred  and  twelve  miles  in  the  in- 
terior, and  another  road  has  been 
built,  by  the  United  States  govern- 
ment, from  Seward  northward.  It 
already  extends  forty-five  miles  and 
will  reach  the  town  of  Susitna  some- 
time this  year.  Still  another  way  of 
penetrating  the  interior  is  by  the 
English  road  from  Skagway  to  White 
Horse  and  connecting  thence  by  barge 
with  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon 
river.  Once  branch  away  from 
these  three  roads,  and  you  must 
“mush”  it  on  foot  or  travel  by  dog- 
sled  over  trails  which  are  passable 
only  during  the  severe  winter  months . 
When  the  cold  abates,  melting  snow 
and  ice  make  travel  impossible. 

Difiiculty  of  transportation  is  the 
greatest  block  to  missionary  progress 
in  Alaska.  Settlements  are  widely 
scattered  and  there  are  not  enough 
missionaries  to  go  around.  With 
travel  conditions  as  they  are,  it  is 
practically  impossible  for  one  man 
adequately  to  serve  more  than  one 
station . 

Not  only  must  the  missionary  cover 

IJ 


Cftree  ©utpo0t0  of  Liljertp 


vast  distances  under  the  greatest 
handicaps,  but  he  must  also  play- 
hide-and-seek  with  an  elusive  popula- 
tion. Half  of  it  is  transient  and  the 
other  half  has  suffered  so  severely  at 
the  hands  of  white  men  as  to  be  de- 
cidedly skeptical  of  any  help  offered 
by  them.  There  are  few  churches  of 
any  kind  in  Alaska.  One  can  travel 
for  hundreds  of  miles  without  seeing 
a chapel  or  a meeting  house.  The 
congregations  of  the  churches  that  do 
exist  decrease  fully  half  during  the 
winter  months  when  the  white  people 
“come  out”  to  Seattle,  San  Francisco 
or  southern  California. 

Where  the  White  Man  Wanders 

There  are  two  types  of  people  whom 
the  missionary  hopes  to  find  at  the 
end  of  the  trail;  the  native  inhabitants 
of  the  land,  Indians  and  Eskimos,  and 
the  white  people  who  have  come  there 
in  search  of  wealth.  If  he  tried  to 
choose  the  class  which  he  thought 
stood  in  greatest  need  of  his  atten- 
tion, he  would  have  a hard  time  of  it. 
Wisely,  he  wastes  no  time  or  energy 
deciding  that  question,  but  goes  after 
both  of  them. 

An  investigation  of  Eskimo  living 
conditions  was  recently  made  by  Cap- 
tain H.  Clay  Michie,  of  the  Aledical 
Corps  of  the  United  States  Army. 
That  his  report  might  be  quite  un- 
biased, he  selected  what  was  reputed 
to  be  one  of  the  cleanest  Eskimo  vil- 
lages in  Alaska.  Here  he  explored  a 
series  of  windowless  huts,  guaranteed 
to  admit  no  fresh  air,  crowded  with 
people  dressed  in  skins,  poorly  tanned 
and  partly  decayed.  Refuse  of  all 
kinds  was  piled  high  about  the  huts, 
ready,  when  a thaw  should  come,  to 
melt  into  a mass  of  liquid  filth. 

Tuberculosis  is  one  result  of  such 
conditions.  Of  Alaska’s  school  chil- 
dren, 61.5  per  cent  are  tubercular. 
Unless  their  entire  system  of  living  is 


changed  the  percentage  will  be  greatly 
increased.  Captain  Michie  believes 
that  Alaska  is  one  of  the  greatest  fields 
for  medical  missionary  work. 

It  is  easier  for  the  missionary  to 
catch  the  Eskimos  and  Indians  in 
their  igloos  and  shacks,  than  it  is 
for  him  to  overtake  the  white  men  in 
their  restless  wanderings  in  search  of 
wealth.  Sometimes  he  finds  them  in 
mining  camps,  where  might  still  rules 
over  right,  in  spite  of  occasional 
sheriffs  and  government  officials.  One 
who  has  never  visited  Alaska  can  have 
no  conception  of  the  limits  to  which 
drinking  and  gambling  are  carried. 
These  camps,  in  many  cases,  are 
entirely  churchless. 

The  fisheries  are  other  temporary 
centers  of  population,  and  present 
one  of  the  most  difficult  problems 
with  which  the  Church  has  to  deal. 
Attracted  by  the  high  wages  offered, 
droves  of  men  of  the  lowest  type 
come  to  the  fisheries  during  the 
season.  Many  of  them  enter  into 
temporary  marriages  with  half-breed 
Indian  women.  The  result  is  a very 
large  population  drifting  through 
southeastern  Alaska,  living  from  hand 
to  mouth,  burdened  with  a terrible 
inheritanee  of  vicious  and  lawless 
characteristics.  Naturally  they  have 
no  great  interest  in  Christian  teach- 
ings and  are  one  of  the  toughest  nuts 
a missionary  has  ever  been  called  upon 
to  craek.  Yet  many  of  the  children 
of  these  illegal  marriages  are  bright 
and  impressionable.  In  them  lies 
the  one  hope  of  stabilizing  and  Chris- 
tianizing this  shifting  population. 

In  the  camps  and  in  the  various 
towns  there  is  a surprising  number 
of  college  men.  A preacher  rarely 
has  a congregation  which  does  not 
contain  at  least  one  graduate  of  some 
college  in  the  States.  Let  him  look 
well  to  his  arguments  and  his  rhetoric, 
for  pioneer  life  has  by  no  means  dulled 
the  wits  of  these  soldiers  of  fortune 


13 


3Iaska--ti)e  Pri^e  package 


This  looks  more  like  a field  in  sunny  Georgia  than  a garden  in  the  land  of  ice  bergs. 
Yet  these  healthy  potatoes  were  raised  north  of  Nome,  not  very  many  miles  from 

the  Arctic  Circle 


who  roam  through  the  remote  sec- 
tions of  our  United  States. 

Giving  the  Great  Silence  a Voice 

So  far  the  Methodist  Church  has 
staked  its  claim  in  four  settlements — 
Fairbanks,  Seward,  Juneau  and  Ket- 
chikan. From  each  of  these  points 
the  missionary  carries  the  good  tidings 
out  over  a circuit  more  toilsome  and 
dangerous  than  that  of  the  old  circuit 
rider  in  the  West.  It  is  difficult  to 
get  much  information  from  the  “land 
of  the  great  white  silence.”  The  mis- 
sionary who  penetrates  into  the 
interior  of  that  country  must  rough 
it  with  the  rest.  He  is  so  busy 


traveling  from  one  station  to  an- 
other, fighting  for  existence,  and  try- 
ing to  help  those  whom  he  finds  along 
the  trail,  that  he  has  little  time  for 
letter  writing.  In  a land  of  such 
shifting  scenes,  statistics  are  out  of 
the  question. 

The  Centenary  plan  for  Alaska  is  to 
employ  more  pastors,  so  that  one 
man  will  not  have  to  serve  several 
points  on  a circuit;  and  to  appoint  a 
general  missionary  to  cover  the  entire 
field.  For  this  purpose  $76,500  is 
needed.  Under  such  an  arrangement 
the  great  white  silence  will  find  a 
voice,  and  we  shall  be  in  closer  touch 
with  our  parish  in  Uncle  Sam’s  prize 
package . 


13 


C5ree  SOutpo0t0  of  JLifiettp 


Alaska  isn’t  all  potato  fields  as  yet,  and  here  you  see  the  aspect  of  the  land  that 
generally  figures  largely  in  First  Grade  geographies.  No  warm,  cushioned 
limousines  for  the  school  children  here;  but  they  seem  to  enjoy  their  ride  behind 
the  dogs  in  spite  of  the  cold 


Points  on  Alaska 


^HE  area  of  Alaska  is  equal  to  one- 
^ fifth  of  the  whole  United  States. 

The  price  paid  was  less  than  the  cost 
of  one  battleship. 

In  1917  Alaskan  mines  yielded  twenty- 
six  and  a half  million  dollars’  worth 
of  copper. 

The  fisheries  yield  $20,000,000  yearly. 

There  are  64  million  acres  of  farm 
land. 

A rural  population  of  at  least  10,000,- 
000  could  be  supported. 


Alaska  has  the  richest  coal  fields  in 
the  world. 

When  railways  shall  have  been  com- 
pleted, coal  can  be  mined  for  $4.00 
a ton  and  ought  to  sell  for  $6.00. 

There  are  4 church  buildings  and  98 
members  of  the  M.  E.  Church  in 
all  Alaska. 

If  a missionary  has  to  finance  his  own 
gasoline  launch,  it  costs  him  $1,000. 


14 


aDt3erti0ement 


d)e  Centenarp  ^ome  Boarii  Booklets 

Prepared  by  the  Joint  Centenary  Committee 
for  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

jaumher 

Three  Outposts  of  Liberty 

Porto  Rico,  Hawaii  and  Alaska 

Jl^um&er  Ctoo 

Save  the  City 

A discussion  of  the  problems  confronting  the  Church  in  reaching 
the  industrial  and  foreign-speaking  groups  of  the  cities 

jOumber  CIjree 

The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

A Study  of  the  Americanization  problem 

Ji^umber  Jfour 

Broken  Trails  on  The  Frontier 

A view  of  the  work  in  remote  border  settlements 

j^umber  jTibe 

Off  The  Highroad 

An  inquiry  into  the  rural  situation  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  the  Church 

j^umber 

John  Stewart’s  Kinsmen 

A survey  of  the  needs  of  the  Negro 
Price  five  cents  each 


Joint  Centenary  Committee 

fHrtljoJitat  lEptaropal  Olljurrh,  UrtlfoJitat  Epiaropal  Qlljurrlj.  S’outlj 
111  Jffiftlj  Aarnur.  Nrm  ^ork 


15 


Wherever  the  Stars  and  Stripes  are  planted  the  little 
red  schoolhouse  crops  up  also.  Even  on  the  mountain 
tops  of  Porto  Rico,  Uncle  Sam  is  teaching  the  young 
idea  to  shoot 


Prepared  by  the  Joint  Centenary  Committee 
for  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


